Now that the doctors officially own the hospital on Grey's Anatomy, it’s time to reopen the ER under its new name, Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. And while the doctors on the board are concerned with the new struggles that come with owning a hospital, all Dr. April Kepner's (Sarah Drew) mind is elsewhere.
"She’s just so relieved that the ER is back and up and running," Drew tells Hollywood.com. "[Tonight], we have the reveal of the new ER with all the Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital logos and we have a bunch of bright, shiny, new toys. So she’s super psyched about all the new stuff that this new regime has enabled to happen."
Drew says April is lucky — she doesn’t have to worry about the business side of the hospital, unlike its new owners, who face some struggles opening Grey Sloan Memorial. "They are all very passionate people and particularly excited about their projects that they’re working on," Drew says. "They’re not as interested in the bureaucratic nonsense, like trying to push for funding and making the administrative decisions that need to be made. We’ll see them struggling with wanting to be who they feel they’re striving to be but also fill this role of hospital owners, which just makes everything more complex."
It’s especially hard for Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams), who was appointed as head of the board by his own mother, much to the chagrin of the other, more experienced doctors. "It continues to be a difficult line for him to walk because he’s the youngest of the bunch and the newest of the bunch to the hospital," Drew says. "He spars a lot with Callie in particular over the next few episodes. But we’ll see him beginning to come into his own, take the reigns, and try to do the best he can possibly do given the circumstances."
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So how does his new leadership role affect April’s complicated relationship with Jackson? "They’ll always have some kind of magnetic draw to one another, but I don’t think April has ever been truly able to articulate how she feels about Jackson," Drew says. "She’s never actually told him how she feels about him. In her head, she thinks that he’s not the right fit for her. He doesn’t see the world the same way she does. But in her heart, she feels the opposite. She doesn’t know how to make her head and her heart communicate with each other. It’s hard."
And now that born-again virgin April is getting serious with her new EMT boyfriend Matthew (Justin Bruening) — who she says is "just perfect in every way" — expect her past with Jackson to complicate her present. "April is in total distress after lying to Matthew [about being a virgin], plus she’s realizing that she really does miss sex. Quite a lot, actually," Drew teases. "She wants to have sex with Matthew but feels guilty for even wanting it, and doesn’t want to lose him. She’s in a whole new tizzy about that."
Her confusion leads her to seek advice from an interesting source. "She goes to Meredith for advice which is a sort of ridiculous person to go to about that," Drew says. "Meredith is on the polar opposite spectrum about feeling guilty about sex, so that’s a pretty hilarious interchange."
It’s also bad timing for Meredith (Ellen Pompeo), since tonight’s episode, "Idle Hands," focuses on her anxieties about her pregnancy. "She’s dark and twisty as she’s been for nine seasons, so she’s imagining that everything that could potentially go wrong will go wrong," Drew says. "Like, 'What happens if my kid comes out with 10 legs and four hearts? What if my kid is an alien?' She’s dealing with a lot of fear."
But tonight, Meredith and Derek (Patrick Dempsey) will have something to celebrate: "They do reveal the gender of the baby," Drew says. "But I can’t tell you what it is!"
Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 PM ET/PT on ABC.
Follow Sydney on Twitter: @SydneyBucksbaum
[Photo Credit: Eric McCandles/ABC]
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Sendhil Ramamurthy makes his debut as a series regular in tonight's all-new Beauty and the Beast, "Any Means Possible," but before you fret that Ramamurthy's Assistant District Attorney Gabe Lowen will get in the way of the Catherine (Kristin Kreuk)-Vincent pairing of our dreams, Ramamurthy assures us that their connection will be of the non-romantic – and actually kind of negative – variety.
"Gabe flirts with Catherine, but he flirts with everyone. It’s one of the things he uses to get information out of people," Ramamurthy tells Hollywood.com ahead of his first episode. "Gabe isn’t going to be a romantic interest right now. It’s very much an adversarial relationship."
The reason there's such negative tension between Cat and Gabe is because Gabe is spearheading the task force to hunt down the vigilante – aka, Vincent (Jay Ryan). "He wants to put the guy behind bars," Ramamurthy reveals. "But there is so much more to Gabe and what’s driving him than just ambition. Ambition is 2 percent of it. The other 98 percent that’s revealed throughout this is really the driving force. It changes the dynamic of the show. There is reason why he goes about doing what he’s doing and ultimately it’s a really satisfying reveal. It’s going to come out of left field."
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When we pressured Ramamurthy to tell us more about Gabe’s true reasons for wanting to hunt down Vincent, he relented and let us know that we’ll get part of the story by the end of tonight’s episode. "Gabe reveals why he’s doing what he’s doing by the end of the episode to the other characters," Ramamurthy says. "The information that he wants the characters to have he reveals by the end of the episode, but his real motivations you find out very quickly over the subsequent episodes."
And as for his relationship with the other characters we’ve come to know and love over the freshman season of the CW drama, don’t expect Gabe to be making many friends. "He basically says, 'I think you guys are doing a bad job,'" Ramamurthy says. "He’s very in your face about it, and obviously, when somebody comes in and tells a bunch of people that he thinks they’re doing a crappy job, that’s not going to make them like him very much."
It’s probably a good thing Gabe doesn’t care about making friends, then. "Being liked by the other people in the police department is not at the top of his list," Ramamurthy says. "He goes after this with tremendous passion and certainly for Cat and Tess and Joe, it rubs them the wrong way. He ruffles a lot of feathers when he gets there."
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But his tense relationship with Catherine has another reason behind it, and it has a little something to do with the… ahem, revealing way that they meet. "What can I say? I went to the gym a lot for that scene," Ramamurthy teases. "The introduction to the character for the audience and Gabe’s introduction with Catherine is fairly unorthodox. I’m in a towel. I think that’s all I’m allowed to say. It’s definitely the most interesting way that I’ve ever been introduced into a show, that’s for sure!"
But as we find out later down the line, that unique meeting may not actually be the first time Catherine and Gabe encounter each other. "As information comes out, you will actually find out that Gabe has a connection to Catherine's past," Ramamurthy reveals. "The reveal of that is huge."
Could that connection have anything to do with Catherine’s mother? "You start to think, does Gabe have a connection to Muirfield?" Ramamurthy teases. "As the episodes go on, the audience finds out what motivates Gabe and what his background is. You will find out why he is how he is today."
Ramamurthy makes his debut as a series regular March 14 at 9 PM ET/PT on The CW.
Follow Sydney on Twitter: @SydneyBucksbaum
[Photo Credit: The CW]
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While the cast of Nashville didn't give acoustic performances of any of their original hit country songs (boo!), they did gather onstage together for a PaleyFest panel Saturday afternoon to tease some major relationship changes in the next few episodes (yay!). When the country-music show returns with all new episodes March 27, we'll finally get to see the outcome of Scarlett (Clare Bowen) and Gunnar's (Sam Palladio) grief-induced hookup.
"It’s getting freaky right now," Palladio says. "What a crazy situation to be in. They’re in a phase right that’s bringing them to a new level. Gunnar’s in a really traumatic place [after the death of his brother] and Scarlett is being that emotional bedrock for him. Bed rock, hey!"
All puns aside, Bowen tried to rationalize what made Scarlett finally take their relationship to the next level at such an inopportune time. "Grief makes people do very odd things," Bowen says. "The person you’re supposed to be with may not turn up at the most convenient, appropriate time. So you’ll have to wait and see what the aftermath is like."
And while Gunnar and Scarlett's relationship is being taken to new levels, the relationship at the core of Nashville is as complicated as ever. Rayna (Connie Britton) and Deacon (Charles Esten) have a long history, and things haven't gotten any easier with the announcement of Rayna's upcoming divorce and their heated elevator kiss. But Britton and Esten aren't optimistic that they can get a happily ever after. "She’s the one for me, but does that always work out, is that always the best?" Esten says. "That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to work out but we’re always trying."
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Britton agrees that their journey won't be an easy one. "It’s a very grown up relationship," Britton says. "We can go in so many different directions and we have. We can just rip each other apart in so many ways. But there’s always this foundation between the two of them."
While Britton and Esten couldn't reveal details about their relationship, we did get some scoop on what's coming up for Juliette (Hayden Panettiere) in the wake of her marriage annulment. "One marriage under my belt, a few 'carcasses,'" Panettiere says. "She’s mostly trying to rekindle the relationship with her mother and she loves to take two steps forward and one step back. Her life is a roller coaster."
But Panettiere did tease that someone new may be coming into Juliette's life. "A new character is going to come in and try to help this relationship, but whether or not that comes to fruition is questionable," Panettiere says. "Some clothes might come off in the meantime." She also revealed that one episode in particular will feature a lot of naked Juliette!
Interestingly enough, creator Callie Khouri also teased that the moment where Avery (Jonathon Jackson) bumps into Juliette (and tries to turn it into a pick up line) in the pilot might be a good foreshadowing of things to come. Could we possibly be seing an Avery/Juliette romance?
We'll find out when Nashville returns on Wednesday, March 27 at 10 PM ET/PT on ABC.
Follow Sydney on Twitter: @SydneyBucksbaum
[Photo Credit: Katherine Bomboy-Thorton/ABC]
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At first glance, Ender’s Game seems an obvious choice for a big-budget movie adaptation. The 1985 sci-fi yarn has sold millions of copies, been translated into 29 languages, and is on the “Suggested Reading” list for the U.S. Marine Corps. It spawned a series 11 follow-up novels, meaning major franchise potential for the studio, Summit Entertainment, that snapped up the rights. And with a plot about a boy genius in a futuristic military academy being trained to defend Earth from extraterrestrial hordes it could credibly boast the tagline that it’s “Harry Potter meets The Hunger Games.” Guaranteed box office gold, right?
Not so fast. Several experts say Ender’s Game author Orson Scott Card, also credited as a producer on the film, could pose a major problem for Summit as it begins its publicity campaign. Or, rather, his controversial politics do. Card has been at the forefront of the anti-gay marriage movement, acting as a board member of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), which campaigned in favor of Proposition 8 in California. He’s said that if the U.S. government in any way allows states to legalize gay marriage, then the government will become his “mortal enemy,” and he will “act to destroy that government and bring it down.” He’s also advocated for sodomy laws to remain in place “to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society’s regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society.”
In the past, the largely male, largely young, largely geeky audience for the Ender’s Game movie, directed by Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), starring Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, and Asa Butterfield, and due to be released Nov. 1, might not have been thought of as being easily offended by such rhetoric. Today, however, with acceptance of gay rights reaching an all-time high among American youth, and geek culture at the most progressive it’s ever been, that is not the case. Summit faces a major challenge in their marketing of the Ender’s Game movie that centers on two questions sci-fi fans will be asking themselves in the months leading up to its release: Is it possible to separate a book or movie from its author’s personal views? And is that compartmentalization morally defensible?
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“The fact of the matter is that we’re already talking about the controversy surrounding the film now, and, for better or worse, the personal views of the story’s creator are going to continue to be a discussion point in the many months leading up to its release,” says Mark Umbach, a public relations and crisis management expert for Macias Media Group, a firm that helps connect entertainment industry clients, including movie studios, to the LGBT consumer base. Umbach hasn't been brought in to consult on Summit's promotion of the Ender's Game movie but notes that the studio faces a major challenge in courting a gay audience for the film. “There is a huge LGBT audience for science fiction, and it’s going to be hard for those fans to separate Card’s comments from his work.”
Ari Karpel, an L.A.-based journalist who writes about movies and gay culture for The New York Times and Fast Company’s Co.Create site agrees. “The gay community has become adept at using social media to spread its opposition to perceived incidents of homophobia and really does have the power to taint the movie,” Karpel says. “While the gay audience itself is not necessarily the core audience for an Ender's Game series of movies, the younger demographic is increasingly sensitive to gay civil rights issues. Moviegoers are savvy. It's going to be hard to avoid making this an issue.”
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As expected, the studio has not responded to Hollywood.com’s repeated requests for comment. Rich Ferraro, Vice President of Communications for the Gay &amp; Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), has released the following statement: "Anti-gay activists like Card can't expect to spread the same hateful and dangerous rhetoric they once did without it negatively impacting how the public views them. As a board-member of NOM, one of the most visible anti-gay organizations, Card is not merely a holder of anti-gay views but someone who has used his own fame and resources to actively make life more difficult for hard-working LGBT people and our families. He might still want the buying public to financially support his creative endeavors, but the public is responding with an affirmative "no." (Important to note: as of this report, the organization is not planning a boycott of the Ender’s Game film.)
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If you just look at the book sales for Ender’s Game, that “no” doesn’t seem as affirmative. As of March 1, it’s ranked as Amazon.com’s #16 bestselling science fiction novel, above George R.R. Martin’s A Clash of Kings and A Feast for Crows and Stephen King’s 11/22/63.
However, it’s another controversy that shows what an uphill battle Summit has on its hands. DC Comics announced Feb. 6 that they'd hired Card to author a new Superman anthology. AllOut.org, a website devoted to LGBT activism, protested the hiring and has already gathered over 16,000 signatures for a petition to DC Comics to fire Card. DC Comics released a statement noting that Card’s “personal views” are not representative of the company’s, but that they “steadfastly support freedom of expression.” However, for those who could be directly affected by Card’s anti-gay marriage agenda, it’s harder to separate the Superman comic — and Ender’s Game —from its maker.
“It’s extremely difficult for the LGBT community to compartmentalize a body of work or product from its creator, because the views of the creator, who generally has a pulpit from which to speak, so intimately affect their lives and their families,” Umbach says “It’s a direct attack on the basic liberties being afforded to other Americans.”
A number of comic book writers and artists are protesting Card’s hiring themselves. Phil Jimenez, who co-authored the DC Comics Encyclopedia and has penciled Wonder Woman comics for DC and New X-Men comics for Marvel says, “The messaging readers receive through Superman is really important -- he's a symbol of honesty, fairness, goodness, and justice — and I just feel like attaching someone so virulently bigoted to the character seems to taint him for me a little, and certainly ensures I don't buy the works authored by such an individual.”
Card’s association with Superman is surprising given how much more sensitive the comics world has become regarding gay issues and the inclusion of gay characters. DC itself recently had the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott, come out of the closet, and Batwoman has been pursuing lesbian relationships in the pages of her comics. “As a writer, I’d like to say that it’s been the creators driving this [inclusivity], but really, I think it’s been the readership that has demanded more diversity over time,” says Batwoman author W. Haden Blackman. “Readers want to see more characters that reflect who they are, or the people they know and love… I’ve encountered virtually no homophobic response to my work on Batwoman. It’s been exactly the opposite, in fact.”
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There certainly isn’t a 100% overlap between comics readers and the sci-fi audience that would buy a ticket to see the Ender’s Game movie, but the increasing openness in representing gay characters in comics, and the audience’s demand, including the straight audience’s demand, for that openness, is indicative of a larger shift in geek culture. “What has always impressed me about science fiction since I was a kid is that it is a progressive genre, one that explores ideas,” says Brannon Braga, wrtier/producer of the Star Trek series The Next Generation, Voyager, and Enterprise and co-creator of CBS’ Threshold and Fox’s Terra Nova. “In exploring ideas you can’t be closed minded. By definition, science fiction is also humanitarian.”
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One thing that might work in Summit’s favor is the fact that the general audience just doesn’t know much about Card’s homophobia — if they know much about him at all. Aside from his placement on the board of the National Organization for Marriage, he’s expressed most of his anti-gay views to Mormon publications. “I didn’t know Orson Scott Card had some hateful aspects to his personality,” says Braga. “I would assume that if people do find out about the author’s point of view, it would have an impact. It’d be almost like dealing with a Scientology book. It’s a little hard to separate Battlefield Earth from its origin. L. Ron Hubbard may not have written it as a Scientology book per se, but it’s difficult when you’re reading it not to think, ‘Oh yeah, this is by the guy who founded Scientology.’”
Though groups like AllOut.org and GLAAD are trying to raise awareness, Card's past isn't a talking point for the run-0f-the-mill moviegoer. But the web-savvy sci-fi fans who will be the core audience for an Ender’s Game movie are much more in tune. That could be a problem, since those sci-fi fans are going to be responsible for building buzz and creating a consensus about the movie on social media leading up and after Ender’s Game’s release. Not to mention that within geek culture authors and their creations, whether books, movies, or TV shows, have never been more closely linked. Don’t like the Star Wars prequels? Blame George Lucas! Hate Twilight? Bash Stephenie Meyer! Still fuming over that LOST finale? Accost Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse on Twitter! Love Harry Potter? Build shrine to J.K. Rowling! It’s harder than ever to separate an author’s personality and priorities from the worldview he or she projects through a work of art. “I loved Apocalypto,” Braga says. “I think it’s a masterwork of filmmaking. But it’s hard to separate it from Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic remarks that he made so near to the release of the film. And when I think of Apocalypto, I definitely do think of that.”
The box office track record of movies with these kinds of controversies isn’t exactly stellar. Gibson’s rant certainly didn’t help Apocalypto, and it grossed only $50 million in 2006, though, anti-Semitic comments or not, the ancient Mayan epic was never going to be a hit. More tellingly, Brett Ratner compounded the already bad buzz surrounding his 2011 film Tower Heist when he infamous said “rehearsals are for f**s,” the comment that forced him to resign from producing the Oscars, the weekend of his film’s release. Making only $78 million, it became his lowest grossing comedy in 11 years. And Ron Howard’s The Dilemma flat-out bombed in January 2011 following a backlash over Vince Vaughn’s pejorative use of “gay” in a trailer.
It’s impossible to know whether the controversies surrounding these filmmakers negatively affected their movies, especially given that those films were of questionable quality to begin with. But let’s put it this way: the controversies certainly didn’t help. What happens, though, if unlike The Dilemma, Tower Heist, and Apocalypto, the Ender’s Game movie turns out to be really good? “If the movie is great all else will fall away,” Karpel says. Braga agrees. “If Card’s vision is powerful enough and unique enough, the work can stand for itself.”
NEXT: Summit’s Strategy for Dealing With the Anti-Card Backlash May Be Very, Very Simple.
That’s why Summit’s approach in addressing Card’s inflammatory views will likely be to just ignore them outright.
“That might be possible,” Karpel says. “Summit is the studio that managed to maintain Twilight's cultural dominance amidst a scandal that could have toppled it: the revelation that Kristen Stewart had cheated on Robert Pattinson with Rupert Sanders, her Snow White and the Huntsman director. Summit expertly maneuvered through that one, but the controversy does seem to have had lingering effects for Stewart, who is not as beloved as she once was.” Hollywood studios have mastered the ability at circling the wagons and preventing controversial discussions from even starting, and that cone of silence doesn’t only extend to employees on their payroll. Several crisis management experts were approached to comment on this piece, and, other than Mark Umbach, all declined to contribute. Braga himself candidly admits, “It’s better in Hollywood to just lay low on issues like this. The only reason I’m giving [this interview], honestly, is because I really think there is something terrible and ultimately corruptible about hate and judging people as a group rather than considering them as individuals. It’s disgusting when people express the kinds of views this author has expressed and I felt a moral obligation to at least chime in.”
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Likewise, the studio isn’t commenting at all on its strategy for promoting the film and, eight months before its release, it’s possible that they themselves haven’t hammered out their strategy. However, if they follow the template they used to market the final Twilight film in the wake of Kristen Stewart cheating scandal, that means one thing in particular could happen: Card could be left out of the film’s publicity. It seems almost unthinkable. It’d be like marketing the Harry Potter movies without J.K. Rowling. But leaving him out of the discussion may be preferable to putting him on a panel before a crowd of thousands in Hall H at Comic Con, where he might face questions that will distract from the film. “We have a whole younger generation who may not understand why marriage equality is even a debate topic,” Umbach says. “And those are people that are going to be in the audience at Comic Con. Putting Card in front of a huge audience may draw attention away from the film and put the focus on his personal ideologies, which could distract from the purpose of taking the principles to the convention…to support the film.”
Even if we can say that it is indeed possible to separate an author from his work, it seems undeniable that purchasing a ticket to the Ender’s Game movie is in fact funding Card’s politics. “I’d say that’s case,” Braga says. “If an author’s political views are so pronounced and have been articulated vocally enough that you are aware of them, I think there is a social responsibility behind your choice to buy a ticket.” Which is also to say that you can support Card’s right to “freedom of expression” without having to endorse those views with your dollars. Adds Blackman, “I shouldn’t somehow feel compelled to buy something created by someone who will use that money to persecute or restrict the rights of my loved ones.”
But in Hollywood, money is king, and the fact that some people feel that way can’t be good news to Summit. They’ll need a strategist like Ender himself to play this game.
Follow Christian Blauvelt on Twitter @Ctblauvelt
[Photo Credits: Richard Foreman Jr./Summit Entertainment, DC Comics]
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Ever since Lori's (un)timely death, the man, the myth, the hot mess that is Rick Grimes has been on an annoying downward spiral with an end that seemed to be nowhere in sight. And who would have known that, 31 episodes into the series, it wouldn't be Carl, or Hershel, or any of the other misfits he's met along his journey that would snap him right back to reality. Instead, it was Morgan Jones, the kindly man who fostered Rick during the show's pilot, that would unintentionally drill in a very important message: Rick Grimes, s**t could always be worse.
I'm guessing that tonight's episode will be a polarizing one. Not only did we not see any forward movement on the Grimes versus Woodbury plot line, but there were no epic Walker battles — and, oh yeah, the only characters shown in the episode were Rick, Carl, Michonne, and Morgan. Any episode that excludes Daryl Dixon in favor of generally unpopular characters like Carl and Michonne is a risk, but I think that this particular risk was very well worth taking. It was the first episode that actually humanized Michonne as a real live being with feelings, and not just a scowl-face ("I think she might be one of us," says Carl). Also, it furthered Carl along on his journey from annoying pre-teen to courageous adult with a strong sense of morals in an increasingly morally deprived world. Plus, that cat! And rats on skateboards! (ASIDE: Why have we not seen any cats on The Walking Dead? If anyone can easily escape a herd of Walkers and remain well-fed during a Zombie Apocalypse, it's a cat. New showrunner Scott Gimple, please hire some cats.)
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But mostly, this was the episode that effectively halted Rick's downward spiral, by sending him back to his home town for ammo (ASIDE: Was anyone else laughing at how little they've traveled over the last few seasons?), and putting him face to face with someone who has fared far worse in this post-apocalyptic society. Rick may have lost Lori and some other randos along the way (sorry, T-Dog), but he still has his son, and some pretty good people to share some semblance of a life with. Something to fight for, if you will. When Rick stared Morgan straight in the face, he saw what he himself would become if he continued on his current trajectory. He saw the face of what all-encompassing loss can do to a person. It sucks.
And it wasn't even just Morgan — the whole episode was a giant jolt for the audience, too, as we've become accustomed to a season filled to the brim with cray cray humans, both in Woodbury and the prison. (Fight the dead, fear the living — remember?) This season has felt very alive in a show about the literal and metaphoric walking dead, and tonight offered a huge break from that. The trip to Rick and Carl's hometown gave us and them their first real look back, and boy was it depressing. The opening shot of the episode offered a glimpse at one permanently forgotten family's tragic story ("Erin, we tried for Stone Mountain — J"), and the other car on the highway, filled with rotten corpses, was an obvious metaphor for RICK GRIMES, THIS COULD HAVE BEEN YOU. (Rick did show occasional looks of remorse when he saw the misfortune of others, but come on — you know he wouldn't let that family into the Grimes Gang if they had survived. If only they too had been driving a Hyundai.)
Case in point: the faceless dude who ran after the Grimes' Hyundai, completely alone and desperate, on the highway. Dude, you're about to become a statistic. I'm not sure if it was Rick's unwillingness to take people in — highlighted again by the conversation Michonne overheard where Rick told Carl that she was only with them now, temporarily, because they had common goals — or just seeing the lonely desolation that would be her life without them, but a lightbulb finally went off in Michonne's thick head. That talking lightbulb said, "Maybe be nice to these people and smile now and then, Michonne, before they throw you out on the road with Merle. This world is f***ing brutal and you're lucky to have friends, even if one of those friends is Carl." Talking lightbulb is deep, you guys.
But we'll get back to Michonne and Carl's B-plot bonding later, because the Rick and Morgan stuff was really good. After the Grimes trio unsuccessfully raided Rick's old company headquarters (the sheriff's station) for guns and ammo, Rick suggested that they head to main street because, as Plainsville's NRA spokesperson and gun permit-signer, he knew where all of the town's secret stashes were. ("Do you have a problem with that approach?" Rick asked Michonne, being a total prick. "No Rick, I don't have a problem," she sincerely replied with a look of sadness, as she handed him a lone bullet. Michonne can be endearing when she actually tries.)
So off to main street they went, except main street wasn't main street anymore, it was a mess of Mount Vesuvius-style charred corpses, ominous graffitied warnings, and Walker traps that vaguely resembled the barricades from the stage version of Les Miserables. The town was clearly being run by a very resourceful lone loon. And that lone loon, we soon learned when he appeared from a rooftop demanding their guns and their rapid departure, was MORGAN! A shoot-out immediately followed, and Carl shot him — because Carl shoots everybody nowadays. Just ask Saturday Night Live. Then Rick took off Morgan's mask, and had a "holy s**t" moment when he saw his old pal. He'd been wearing a bulletproof vest so he was fine, just passed out. And without his little son Duane, so it was obvious that this man's story was going to descend into tragedy-ville as soon as he woke up.
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Oh, did it ever! Morgan was living in a booby-trapped apartment, with walls covered in scribbles (the first lesson you learn in Looney Loon 101) and Rick's walkie-talkie of missed opportunity. Do you know what that walkie-talkie smelled like to Rick Grimes? It smelled like guilt. Rick hadn't turned on that outdated piece of technology every day at dawn to rescue his ill-fated friend. He'd gone on living — becoming embroiled in Lori/Shane scandals, having children, making friends with Daryl. A pretty okay life, considering. Michonne — the voice of reason in Daryl's absence — wanted to get the you-know-what out of there ("I think he's dangerous," she said. Duh!), but Rick Grimes loves confronting his demons and feeling guilty about things so he stuck around, while Carl and Michonne went on a photography-inspired adventure that we'll get to momentarily. Before they left, we had our @LOLMichonne moment of the week when Rick scolded her for eating the still passed out Morgan's food. "Mat says 'welcome,'" she replied with a hefty dose of monotone and a shrug. Girl, you silly.
Morgan woke up a few minutes later (right after we saw that he'd scribbled EVERYONE TURNS on the wall), and tried to stab Rick. Dude appeared to be three sheets to the wind with madness. "I don't know you!" he screamed, after mumbling something about Rick wearing a dead man's face. "You don't clear! You turn! You just die! Psycho babble psycho babble!" he ranted, whilst still trying to stab Rick in the face. He nicked him in the shoulder, then began to cry and begged Rick to kill him once Sheriff Grimes got the upper hand.
Of course, he regained clarity and recognized Rick as soon as Rick brought out the symbolic walkie talkie. "You said you'd turn yours on at dawn, that's what you said," Morgan cried. He'd turned it on every day, for weeks. With his boy. But no, nothing — nothin' but nothin' from Rick Grimes. "You said you'd turn on your radio every day at dawn, and YOU WERE NOT [period] THERE [period]," he screamed. Great, just what Rick needs — more ruined lives to feel accountable for. Rick tried to explain his actions to Morgan, but duh, mostly to himself. He had lives he was in charge of, he explained. They had to keep moving. (ASIDE: I've been saying for weeks that Rick needs to get over feeling accountable for every person that's been somehow f***ed over since the beginning of this series if he's going to survive, and it seems like this is finally happening. Thanks for being the sacrificial lamb, Morgan.)
Morgan is sad and crazy so we'll give him a pass, but he was being kind of a d**k to Rick. You know, sarcastically telling Rick his life was great because he didn't have to see his wife turn like Morgan did. I hated him for about ten seconds, but then he told a horrible story that makes Carl shooting Lori sound downright uplifting. Remember in the pilot, when Rick gave Morgan the gun to shoot his Walker wife? But he couldn't do it? Morgan remembers that, too. "I let her go like there wasn't going to be a reckoning," he said. (ASIDE: I mean, it was totally obvious that this story was coming from the moment we found out that Duane was dead, but Lennie James' deliverance was just soul-crushing.)
Morgan and Duane were looking for food, you see. (It always comes down to food.) He looked away for just long enough for his wife to reappear, right over Duane. Duane held up his gun, ready to shoot. But, alas, Duane was no Carl Grimes, and Morgan was unable to stop it. "He turned, and she was just on him," he explained. "And I just see red. I see red." Oh boy, this is heartbreaking. Call your loved ones and get back to me…
… K. My mom says hi. So Morgan didn't kill his wife, then his wife killed his son, and Rick Grimes was the man that gave him the gun that could have prevented all that. That's why he's bananagrams, and it totally makes sense. Rick Grimes was starting to look and feel very normal in comparison, as Morgan told him that Carl and everyone he knew would surely die. I mean it's true, but telling white lies never hurt anyone, Morgan.
Regardless of Morgan being a total buzz-kill, Rick invited him back to the prison, selling it as some kind of Utopia. (ASIDE: Really, Rick? You kick out the lovely, totally mentally adept Tyreese and his gang and deliver them to the welcoming hands of the Governor, but beg this loon to join you? Think about your life, Rick. Think about your choices.) But Morgan decided to rot in the prison of his own making, instead. It was an awful lot of guns Rick was taking, and Morgan wanted no part of any sort of human struggle. He'd already chosen a slow and brutal death, and was clearly in the right place. "Why do you need the guns, Rick? Cause if you've got something good, that just means there's someone who wants to take it. That is what is happening, right?" I mean — yeah.
"You will be torn apart by teeth or bullets," Morgan went on. "You and your boy. Your people. But not me — because I am not going to watch that happen again." Chilling. And this was the moment, ladies and gents, where Rick Grimes CHOSE LIFE! "This can't be it," Rick said. "You have to be able to come back from this." He was metaphorically talking to himself, right? Or the version of himself that would be if he kept talking to visions of Lori? This is so the "Ghost of Christmas Future" section of A Christmas Carol. Rick stared his future in the face, and didn't like what he saw. He tried to reason with that future, then realized there was no reasoning once you jumped fully into the rabbit hole. So he took his guns, and he left. Bye Morgan, thanks for being symbolically brilliant and what not. Enjoy all the misery and the rats on skateboards. Maybe get a dog, too, because that worked wonders for I Am Legend.
Now it's time to delve into the unlikely friendship between Carl Grimes and Michonne… (does she have a last name?) Carl left Morgan's apartment under the guise of getting a crib for Asskicker at the Plainsville Baby Emporium, but Michonne knows bulls**t when she sees it (see: Woodbury). Carl is a terrible liar, and it was obvious that he was off to take some sort of ill-fated trip down memory lane. Also, Chandler Riggs is a good actor, and wears his emotions all over his f***ing adorable Bieber-y face. So Michonne either A, likes Carl as a human being, B, wanted to get in good with the Grimes Gang, C, knew that hanging out with Rick would be terrible, or D, doesn't care for the death of children. Whatever it was, she followed him. You know, to help "carry the crib."
As soon as they left, Carl gave Michonne the dip while she sliced open a Walker. She was scowley until she caught up with him and he walked straight past the Baby Emporium, saying he was going to get little Asskicker something else first. Clearly this was something of importance to poor little Carl, who should be learning Algebra but is instead learning how to survive in a world without hope (not sure which is worse), and Michonne's heart grew three sizes that day. Michonne decided to help out on this sure to be stupid mission, and selflessly accompanying a member of the Grimes Gang on a stupid mission is the only way to gain membership to this terribly exclusive group, so the decision was a good one.
Carl was very unwelcoming at first, spewing out his dad's hurtful argument that she was only there because they had common interests, then she would GTFO with Merle and the other unpopular kids. The thick-headed cowboy was headed into a Walker-filled restaurant though, so she ignored him. Way to turn down help from the warrior woman with a Katana, Carl. A total Carl Grimes move, if you will. Then, obviously, Michonne saved Carl's life and killed the s*** out of several Walkers, but they were not able to retrieve this mysterious restaurant item that Carl so badly desired. (Was it whiskey?) "It's the only one left!" Carl cried. "We have to go back, Kate!" Michonne knew he wasn't going to let this one go. "No more bulls**t," she said. "You wait here, and that's how we get it done."
Thankfully, Carl actually listened — and seconds later Michonne came back with a photo of Rick, Lori, and little innocent Carl. "I just thought Judith should know what her mom looked like," he said with an adorable smile. "Thank you." But Michonne was going to go back anyway, to retrieve a colorful statue of a cat. "I just couldn't leave this behind," she said. "It's just too damn gorgeous," she said. Then something wonderful happened — she smiled! Michonne smiled! Michonne likes art! We're learning so much about her, finally, and I like her. I maybe even cried a little. Sue me, this was an emotional episode.
In the end, Carl and Michonne (who found a crib!) met up with Rick and Morgan in the street. "He's okay," Michonne observed. "No, he's not," Rick replied. Carl apologized to Morgan for shooting him, and Morgan told him to never be sorry. This is not a world where you can feel sorry, Carl Grimes. Your father just spent an entire episode learning that very same lesson, let's hope you pick up on it sooner.
They packed up the Hyundai with their guns and baby stuff, (how totally red state, emiright?) and Carl announced to Rick that Michonne "might be one of us," while she was pretty much standing right there. I love how they do that. These two are absolutely terrible at talking about people behind their backs. Then Michonne buddied up with the elder Grimes, stating matter-of-factly that she knew that he had been seeing things. "I used to talk to my dead boyfriend," she said. "It happens." Michonne had a boyfriend! Michonne is so likable! I love this episode, and Rick's response: "Do you want to drive?" he asked. "Yeah," she replied. (It's a Hyundai! Who wouldn't want to drive a Hyundai?) "Good, cause I see things." Rick Grimes, you are so damn sexy when your head is on straight.
Michonne drove off, while Rick gazed out the window — saying goodbye to his old life, and his guilt — once and for all. To hammer this point in, they drove past the guts of the poor hapless hitchhiker from the beginning of the episode, and stole all of his stuff. That's the spirit! All in all, I thought that this was a tremendous episode, with some of the best writing and characterization we've seen all season. But enough about me — what did you think? Did you like seeing Morgan again? Do you feel that Rick is fully healed? What do you think Merle was doing while all of this was going down? Mentally torturing someone, I'd reckon. Let us know in the comments!
Follow Shaunna on Twitter @HWShaunna
[Photo Credit: AMC (2)]
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We can't help but sympathize with the dozens of nationwide Stone Temple Pilots fans up in arms about the dismissal of frontman Scott Weiland. On Wednesday, the world — and Weiland himself — found out that the band would be giving its central performer the boot via a STP press release that read (via NBC), "Stone Temple Pilots have announced they have officially terminated Scott Weiland." And thus, the '90s mainstays (in that they seem to have stayed, mentally, in the '90s) whose musical influence spread as far and wide as your brother-who-never-went-to-college's non-ironic tape deck are no longer the band we once "knew." Which is a travesty... in principle.
Maybe you're not especially riotous over the Weiland layoff, but you should be. As that timeless pearl of wisdom from a Counting Crows cover taught us, "You don't know what you got 'til it's gone." We may not have appreciate the Stoneys while they reigned lousy with Weiland wailings, but take heed: nothing is ever better when you change it.
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The Stone-Temps won't be the first to suffer this fate. We have endured a number of second-wave incarnations of our favorite bands over the years, all to disasterous results.
We saw it when Mötley Crüe replaced original frontman Vince Neil with John Corabi...
First:
Then:
See how much worse that is?!
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And let us not forget when Journey replaced Steve Perry with Steve Augeri, thinking that no one would notice the change due to the fact that they were both Steves with last names that kind of rhymed...
First:
Then:
Almost not worth karaoke-ing! And the egregious error in Van Halen's choice to swap out its center-stage position time and time again, from David Lee Roth to Sammy Hagar to Gary Cherone...
First:
Then:
Then:
Abysmal! That last one doesn't even sound like the same song! We, as a people, have let this nightmare clutch the music industry for too long. When an entity is originally conceived, we must take for gospel that it has been considered from every possible vantage point and determined to be the very best manifestation availed by the limits of reality. When a being is born into our world, we must pledge eternal devotion to it, and specifically, it as it stands at its dawn. And when the cruel winds of fate threaten to erode our purest of friends, we must rise up in opposition.
And this isn't just a call to arms of all the Temp-Pis out there, or even just music fans in general. No realm is safe from this pandemic. It has happened to TV shows...
First:
Then:
...in movies...
First:
Then:
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...in cereal company mascotdom...
First:
Then:
...in American history...
First:
Then:
Eventually:
Now:
...and perhaps most tragically of all, the very phenomenon of Earthly life as we know it.
First:
Then:
Point proven. Things should stay the way they are. It's up to you, StoTemPis. Unite. Stop change!
Follow Michael Arbeiter on Twitter @MichaelArbeiter.
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Jon Lucas and Scott Moore's The Hangover successfully translated the "one crazy night" into an absurdist thriller and, more importantly for the writing duo, a mega-hit. For their directorial debut, 21 &amp; Over, the two adapt their manchild mystery for the college crowd nearly beat for beat, substituting laughably idiotic adults for the saddest trio of bros ever brought to screen. The characters in the film spew profanity, race jokes, anti-women ideology, and pop culture non sequiturs (who doesn't love a Shrek joke?) all in the name of "having a great time." This can work — Superbad stands as proof. Instead, the script for 21 &amp; Over scrapes the bottom of the barrel then shotguns it into our faces, amounting to a cesspool of unfunny that will likely breed a new generation of douchebags if (when?) it's taken in by impressionable youngsters.
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A college senior with high aspirations of chugging beers and getting laid, Miller (Miles Teller) arrives to town to meet his two best high school pals, Casey (Skylar Astin) and Jeff Chang (Justin Chon), for the latter's 21st birthday. Jeff insists they stay in — the next morning is his big medical school interview — but no, Miller insists that friends don't let friends go uncelebrated. "I am going to f**k you with alcohol," Miller proclaims with terrifying authority. And so the adventure begins: what starts as a round of beers explodes into a rampage through the college campus bar scene. When Jeff slow-motion vomits while riding a mechanical bull (an expulsion repeated four times over), the friends decide it's finally time to go home. Except, they have no idea where home is.
With Jeff blacked out, Miller and Casey set off to find someone who has a clue. All of the answers have a road block; hoping to find their friend Nicole (Sarah Wright), the men sneak into a Hispanic sorority. Focus becomes their biggest dilemma after Miller and Casey stumble upon two new pledges waiting to be "punished" by their "Pledgemistress." Who can resist spanking two co-eds under the guise of hazing? These two can't. When they're discovered, they run to their next insane scenario, Lucas and Moore turning the Hispanic sorority girls into 21 &amp; Over's version of the Hangover gangsters. It wouldn't feel as offensive as it does if the reasoning and execution wasn't clunkier than drunk Jeff Chang walking on two feet.
21 &amp; Over's great offense is its complete misuse of two great young actors. Since Rabbit Hole, Teller has honed a keen sense of timing in both drama and comedy, while Astin impressed with charm and wit in Pitch Perfect. Here, Lucas and Moore fill their leads' mouths with cheap dialogue, a type of lowbrow insight that makes Tucker Max look like Henry David Thoreau. Beyond their cookie cutter characters (Miller can't stop clinging to high school; Casey doesn't know how to cut loose and have fun), the two bark quips at one another that would immediately drive any normal human beings apart. Miller digs at Casey for not recalling Nicole's sorority letters because they were on her shirt, and clearly, if he was a man, he should be staring at her chest. Nicole even belittles Casey for his inability to party — apparently his passion for NPR and dream of a job after college are misguided. Dude, take a shot! That's what life is about.
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Teller and Astin do make the whirlwind of hate palatable, but never funny. The only laughs come from a pack of male cheerleaders, whose conception as another angry group chasing Miller and Casey seems to be an excuse to crack a Karate Kid joke. Late in the game, 21 &amp; Over reveals its dramatic undertones and that's when it crosses the line from inane to morally irresponsible. Lucas and Moore want to challenge their 21-year-old protagonists. Instead, they let them off the hook. There are no consequences for the people in this movie. There are no rude awakenings. Our heroes threaten people with guns, decimate a college quad while outdriving the cops, and eventually punch Jeff Chang's dad in the face, but they're in the right. If we were laughing at them as they destroyed their lives, that might be entertaining. Instead, 21 &amp; Over is just a boring lesson in why beer pong and one-night stands should be the number one priority in life.
1/5
What do you think? Tell Matt Patches directly on Twitter @misterpatches and read more of his reviews on Rotten Tomatoes!
[Photo Credit: Relativity Media]

The credits for Stoker, the new Chan-Wook Park movie that debuted at Sundance Sunday night, run backwards. Yes, instead of blooming up from the bottom of the screen and traveling up, they pour down from the top in a slow cascade. You'd think this wouldn't make that much of a difference, but it is extremely unsettling, seeing something you're so used to seeing but going in the opposite direction.
Likewise, in this world where spoiling the ending of a movie for someone is tantamount to cutting off one of their digits, I shouldn't be starting a review of a movie with the end, but I think that Stoker deserves it. When Park, who directed the brutal Oldboy, was introducing the movie, he said it is meant to be a dream or a fairy tale, but it is more like a waking nightmare. Everything is slightly off in the movie. Everything is either too large, too small, too modern, too old fashioned, too fast, too slow, too dirty, or too cleanly. It is our world, but tremendously askew, kiltering in one direction and then another, like trying to walk in a straight line after rolling down a hill.
The style only serves the story of India (Mia Wasikowska) who tells us at the beginning of the film that she has super powers: she can see far-away things clearly and hear sounds that no one else can hear. The morose teen gets even sadder when her beloved father dies in an accident and she is left in the care of her cold mother (Nicole Kidman) and her father's brother (Matthew Goode), who appears mysteriously after being absent for decades. The story unspools in unexpected ways as India starts to get interested in boys and discovers her sexuality thanks to the proximity of her handsome uncle. There are also several mysteries to unravel, each one leading to a new one with unexpected, horrible violence leading to even more violence until a shocking conclusion.
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The performances are all stellar with Wasikowska telegraphing ever-shifiting emotion without barely saying a word. Kidman, who speaks much more, is at her finest as a disinterested mother. She shows fear and disdain in the most subtle ways, never overplaying a character that could turn into a campy arch villain with just the tiniest bit of scene-chewing. And Goode is the most menacing of all, the malevolent force that hides behind the facade not only of normalcy but of something attractive that you know is incredibly dangerous.
As for the meaning, I'm not sure what screenwriter Wentworth Miller (yes, the same guy who wore all those tattoos for seasons on Prison Break) is going for. Can this fairy tale teach us anything about humanity or sexuality? The ending leads it in a direction that would take some of the more outrageous elements and turn them into a farce. It also makes the story more central to Wasikowska's character when the thing up until that point had been an exercise in showing us all how messed up our teen years can be.
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But this isn't a farce, it is a fairy tale, complete with a girl in peril who has to fight to save herself. There's running through the woods, magical intervention, and everything we've come to expect for the 13 Snow White movies that came out last year. Still this is like a more chilling version of Beetlejuice, except this gothic fun house has none of the whimsy of Tim Burton. Here every strange perspective is meant to make you uncomfortable. Some of the elements of the story are so outrageous to be unbelievable and many will probably find this film to be groanworthy and insane in a bad way. Still it is unlike anything you've ever seen and will stick in your mind like a spider crawling across your skull. Love it or hate it, you'll be transfixed from beginning to end – when the credits start to roll backwards, making even your final moments with this film particularly off-putting.
Follow Brian Moylan on Twitter @BrianJMoylan

No one is more surprised than I am that I liked Dark Skies, only because when the trailers are inscrutable and studios keep it away from critics, well, we can connect the dots. This isn't the case. Dark Skies is well written and executed, with effective sound design, good performances from the cast, and eerie creatures that are left mostly to our imagination. Frankly, it's baffling.
Keri Russell (The Americans) and Josh Hamilton (The House of Yes, Kicking and Screaming) play the believable, likable Barretts, a couple that's hit a rough patch in their marriage. Daniel lost his job, Lacy's struggling as a real estate agent, and the marriage bed is a little chilly. Their two kids Jesse (Dakota Goyo) and Sammy (Kadan Rockett) are smart, sweet kids who are the first witnesses to the weirdness happening at their house. Jesse and Sammy have a cute bedtime ritual where Jesse reads Sammy scary stories before they fall asleep using walkie-talkies. Their latest scary story is about the Sandman, whom Sammy blames for the pranks that the Barretts begin finding in the morning. As these occurrences escalate, it's clear there's no way that Sammy could be the perp.
Like most good supernatural thrillers, the weird things happening can be ascribed to stress or nightmares or overactive imaginations. The Barretts become increasingly isolated from their friends and neighbors, which only adds to their stress. The way the Barretts experience this internal/external strife can be read as an interesting bit of social commentary; the family unit that stays together and remains strong is the only thing that can defeat whatever threatens them. Daniel is upset and ashamed he can't take care of his family, either financially or from whatever is stalking them. Jesse is mad at his parents for fighting and acting weird and making being a teen even more awkward than usual. Lacy thinks something out of this world is terrorizing them — or maybe it's her husband. This theory about the strength of the family unit is made even clearer later in the film when they meet with a sort of specialist in extraterrestrial phenomena.
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This specialist, Edwin Pollard, is played by J.K. Simmons, who brings a gentle intelligence and mellow resignation that works really well. He could be a wild-eyed kook who wears X-Files shirts and "wants to believe," but he's not. He's just a bachelor with a bunch of cats who has given up fighting. (He has cats because dogs can sense, yes, aliens, and the barking used to keep Edwin up at night.) His performance is a good example of what makes Dark Skies a surprisingly solid sci-fi film.
The premise is straightforward and simple, even though we're trained to expect all sorts of twists. It's not that the Barretts are dumb or exasperating, it's that they don't want to believe it's possible for aliens to exist or be interested in them. They don't want to be those people, the kind of people like Edwin who have totally isolated themselves from society because of what they've seen and experienced, even though they are quickly becoming exactly that. The weakest character is Jesse's putzy friend Ratner, the kind of obnoxious teen boy who talks about "bitches" and encourages his shy friend to be a little bit naughtier, but he has his place in the story as well. If the performances had been a little more exaggerated or the music a touch more dramatic, Dark Skies could have easily tipped into silly territory, but it very carefully walks that line. It takes these possibilities seriously and earnestly, which convinces the audience to do the same. There's a groundedness to the whole enterprise that's satisfying.
There are one or two scenes that are simply jump scares or perhaps a little silly, but they're not so egregious that they take you out of the movie. (And, I'll be honest, jump scares work on me.) In the end, Dark Skies is a wholly enjoyable film that genre fans will enjoy.
3.5/5
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It was bound to happen. After 14 stellar, action-packed, compelling episodes, Arrow was going to have a less-than-thrilling hour. And despite the arrival of Roy Harper (welcome to the Arrow universe, Colton Haynes! I’ve missed your jaw line since Teen Wolf’s season finale…), tonight’s episode, “Dodger,” left me a little underwhelmed.
That’s not to say the episode was terrible! I still quite enjoyed it, but compared to what we’ve been given all season, it’s safe to say “Dodger” is not in my top 10 favorite episodes. Especially after last week’s amazing hour, where the majority was spent in flashbacks to the island and yet the plot was moved forward in major ways, not much happened tonight. Let’s get into it, shall we?
So Moira officially wants out of the “undertaking,” whatever that is (seriously, when are we going to get specifics on that?). Turns out, she isn’t completely, 100 percent evil! She’s worried that with the vigilante on her tail, her kids will be left orphans seeing as how her shady deals resulted in her first husband’s death and her current husband’s disappearance. Moira is a much more complicated character than we initially thought. Could there be hope for redemption in her future? She started out to fix the Glades, and cure the city. But what has her mission become, this mysterious “undertaking?”
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Any hopes of redemption are shot in my opinion, however, because the end of the episode found Moira issuing out a hit on Malcolm Merlyn via… China White! Seems to me that there could be better, less illegal ways of solving her problems, but hey, let’s see where this goes. And, thanks to the promos for next week, we know that China White is bringing Deadshot back into the picture. Awesome! Can’t wait to see how he deals with his grudge against Arrow (last we saw him, Arrow put an arrow through his eye…).
Meanwhile, now that Felicity is Team Arrow-lite (only working with Oliver and Diggle to find Walter), methinks she is starting to really get on board with Arrow’s mission. When Oliver decided to veer from The List to take down The Dodger – a man who uses hostages to steal for him – she started to see him in a different light. He truly is working for the good of Starling City. Little by little, she’s going to give in and join Team Arrow full time. She just doesn’t know it yet!
Team Arrow – well, the men at least – was also doing some work tonight when it came to ladies. That’s right, both Diggle and Oliver got dates! Diggle finally worked up the nerve to ask out Carly, his dead brother’s wife, which is definitely a weird situation but they were both clearly into each other. Oliver worked up the nerve to ask out his old friend, McKenna Hall, even though it started out as a diversion so he could plant tech on her cell phone in order to track The Dodger. Oliver didn’t protest too much when Felicity told him to flirt with McKenna, so clearly it wasn’t just for the mission.
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The boys of Team Arrow are out of practice when it comes to dating, however. Both Diggle and Oliver messed up their dates. Diggle made the smart decision to bring up his dead brother slash his date’s dead husband… bad move, dude. And Oliver… well, to be fair, McKenna was really giving him the third degree about his years on the island. Honey, you aren’t on Team Arrow. That’s too much, too soon. Back off. Understandably, Oliver got a little short with her when she wouldn’t relent on the island questioning, so his date also self-imploded.
Also not going great? Team Arrow’s mission on stopping The Dodger. They baited him with some expensive authentic artifact, but he knew Felicity was on to him. He gifted her with a new necklace – one that did not go well with her fancy dress, since it had a bomb in it. That’s right, The Dodger found his hostage. Thanks to Oliver’s quick thinking and driving, he was able to best The Dodger (duh.) and Felicity was able to make it through the night with her head still attached to her body.
Team Arrow’s dating lives were also saved: both Diggle and Oliver managed to turn things around and get their ladies to forgive them! Diggle made out with Carly in a park, and Oliver got a second date with McKenna. But with the good comes the bad: McKenna got a promotion to work with Det. Lance on finding the vigilante. That’s right, Oliver’s girlfriend is now hunting him! That’s not going to end well, now is it?
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Like I mentioned before, tonight’s episode also featured the arrival of Roy Harper, Thea’s new love interest. Their meet-cute occurred when Roy stole her purse, and when she had him arrested, he gave quite the sob story of why he steals so much. His mom was hooked on vertigo, and even though she kicked the habit she took so much of the drug that she is permanently messed up. Her hospital bills are out of control, and he needs to help her out. But something seemed a little too… well, too sad. Roy got teary-eyed a little too easily, didn’t he?
My suspicions turned out to be correct. His sob story was just that: a sob story. Roy lied about the whole thing to get Thea to take pity on him and drop the charges. At least he returned her purse! This is one relationship I can’t wait to see evolve. Plus, you know, that jaw line! Love me some Roy Harper/Colton Haynes.
In this week’s portion of island flashbacks, we see Oliver start to make some choices that truly changed him. When he was out getting herbs to help treat Slade Wilson’s infection from his gunshot wound, he found another guy tied up and beaten bloody. The guy said he was a shipwreck survivor and the army men beat him, but Oliver couldn’t take a chance on another person who might betray him. He left him in the cave still tied up and nursed Slade back to health without even mentioning the prisoner. His survival instincts truly kicked in, and he’s living by Slade’s code: everyone on the island is living for himself. I’ve been wondering when we were going to start seeing Oliver become Arrow, and I think we’ve just commenced that journey.
The best quotes of the night:
"You’re not going to last an hour out there." -Slade Wilson"I guess you better hope I make it back in 45 minutes then." -Oliver
"You really have no idea how rich his family is, do you?" -Diggle
"I’m not Robin Hood." -Oliver
Follow Sydney on Twitter: @SydneyBucksbaum
[Photo Credit: Jack Rowand/The CW]